


Into the Cold

by dreamsheartstory



Series: Once Upon a One Shot [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Cop!AU, F/F, Trapped In Elevator, Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-27
Updated: 2014-08-27
Packaged: 2018-02-15 00:03:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2208036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsheartstory/pseuds/dreamsheartstory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina and Ruby get stuck in an elevator after a fight, during a blizzard.</p><p>I wrote this because <a href="http://konako.tumblr.com/post/95780193801"> Konako</a> asked for some Red Queen and I thought I'd write some nice lovely fluff... then this happened.</p><p>This is also the first fic I've written in ages (actual ages, let's not get into that). So apologies if it's awful, but there needs to be more RedQueen</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into the Cold

“I’ll walk you out.” 

“I know my way.” Regina pushed off the wall in a fluid movement and sauntered towards the elevators. There was nothing Ruby could do but watch her go. She found herself transfixed by the sway of her hips covered only by a tight short skirt, which was completely impractical for the weather they had been seeing. The movement, the outfit, was deliberate. Regina was a professional after all. 

“Ruby, your CI left this in the interrogation room.” Officer Wallas broke Ruby out of her reverie and handed her the leather jacket she had lent Regina months ago. The one that Regina had kept at Ruby’s insistence. She felt a twinge of pain across her heart as she felt the weight of the jacket in her hand. This couldn’t be her way of saying goodbye, Ruby wouldn’t let it. However stupid Regina had been, going into The House of Brick to track down information for Ruby, information she had not asked her to get, it could not end like this. She was too good an informant. Too good a – Ruby couldn’t let herself finish the thought. Her Granny was right, nothing could come of this. No matter what had transpired between them. Nothing could come of this. Nothing good. 

She balled the jacket in her fist. “Thanks,” With a sigh she pushed herself up from the chair she had sunk into and crossed the room in a few long strides. It wasn’t her fault that Regina was stubborn and demanding. Or that the queen thought she was invincible. She had her wolf pup tamed, running to her call. Ruby scowled as her pace quickened trying to catch up with the other woman. She was not someone’s pet to come in and save the day, but she would do anything to see Regina safe. So of course she had answered the call. At the end of the day she had to make sure Regina stayed safe. Her pace quickened as she rushed down the hallway. 

“Wait!” Ruby called as she slid a hand between the almost closed elevator doors. Before they had a chance to fully open she had pushed her way in and tried to hand Regina the coat. “Take it.” 

“I’m fine.” 

“It’s like 20 degrees outside, Regina. Take it.” Ruby rolled her eyes. She may have been angry but she didn’t want to send Regina out in the blizzard without something warm. 

“I’ll be fine. Are you going down or not?” Regina raised an eyebrow at Ruby, glaring at the taller woman and waiting for an answer. Taking the silent pause as reason enough to assume Ruby wasn’t leaving she smashed her palm against the door close button. 

The elevator started to move with a creak, then shuddered to a halt before free falling a few inches. Regina fell against Ruby, unable to keep her balance in her ridiculously high heeled boots. Ruby caught her, holding onto her upper arms and trying not to let the two of them crash to the ground. She was intently aware of how close they were, she could smell Regina’s heady perfume and feel the tension vibrating through her. Once she was sure the other woman had her footing, Ruby let her go and took a step back. 

The lights flickered for a moment and all went black in the elevator. Not even an emergency light came on.  

“Perfect,” Regina sighed. 

Ruby reached for the elevator door and felt her way to the emergency call box. “I’ll have us out of here in no time. You can get back out…” she waved a hand about in the dark, despite no one being able to see, “there.” she finished lamely. It was too cold to be out on a street corner tonight. “Where is it?” she mumbled to herself, still searching for the catch to open the call box. 

“Give me your phone.” 

“What?” 

“It has a bigger screen than mine, more light?”  

“Right.” Ruby reached for the phone in her back pocket. “Where are you?” 

“Here.” She felt the word more than heard it as Regina pressed up behind her. The shorter woman took the phone and flicked the screen on, holding over Ruby’s shoulder so she could see the panel. “Just because I’m helping you doesn’t mean I’m not angry. I want out of here. You can keep your jacket.” 

“Regina–“ 

“Agent Lucas, don’t.” 

Ruby fell silent and picked up the phone. The line was dead. “Shit.” She turned to Regina, just barely able to make her out in the glow of the phone. “Power must be out.” 

“Care to phone a friend?” Regina handed back the phone. Her light tone clashed with the emptiness in her eyes. 

“No signal. The storm must have knocked out a power station or something.” 

“Try sending a text, sometimes those can still get through. Anything to get us out of here quicker.” 

“Don’t act like you haven’t wanted to get me alone in a dark room.” Ruby tried to make a joke of it but Regina continued to glare as she leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. Ruby tapped out a message to her Granny, Officer Wallas, and anyone else that might still be upstairs. If it went through maybe someone could pry open the doors and get them out. She shoved the phone back in her pocket, not wanting to waste the battery on the paltry light. 

“Regina–“ Ruby paused, unsure what she wanted to say. If she should apologize or stand her ground. The other woman had needlessly put herself in danger on a night when they had a recon operation in play, nearly blowing the cover of two of Ruby’s agents. If she had all three would have been captured, or worse, executed. The House of Brick was not a playground. Dust had been moving through there at an alarming rate, and they had yet to nail where it had been coming from. Whoever was manufacturing and distributing was incredibly dangerous. A low growl escaped her throat. “What were you thinking? Honestly, because that story you gave us back there was bullshit.” That was not what she had meant to say. 

“What did you want me to say?” 

“The truth, Regina. The truth would have been nice.” 

“You really wanted me to say everything in front of your granny and the rest of the agents? Because half of them already think you’re taking advantage of me and my position. The rest think you’re a fool not too. I’m starting to think you might just be a fool.” 

“More like they think I’m in over my head,” Ruby muttered. “That’s not what they think,” she said. “Any CI Agent relationship is complicated, ours is no different.” 

“So this. This is all typical?” Regina raised an eyebrow, not that Ruby could see it in the all encompassing black of the elevator. 

Ruby took a step back, stumbling until she hit the wall, and slid down it. She sat with her head in her hands. This isn’t how she wanted this to go. She shook her head, wordlessly mouthing no. While Regina may have been able to infiltrate The House of Brick without raising any red flags, it hadn’t been her place. She hadn’t needed to do that. It was unnecessary. Ruby could have sent any number of unknown agents in under the guise of one of The Queen’s girls and found out the same information. “Fuck me.” she muttered. 

“Not likely, Agent Lucas.” Regina quipped. Ruby heard her lean against the far wall as slide down until she was seated. It seemed they might be trapped for some time. There was no point in wasting energy standing. 

“I’d like to hear it now though.” Ruby said softly, being angry with Regina was getting her no where. It just pushed her further away. “The truth, that is.” 

“And why should I be bothered enough to tell you that now? You have everything you need to run the raid successfully. Once The House of Brick is taken down I can’t imagine I’ll be of much use.” 

Ruby wished she could see Regina’s face. The woman had a way of separating her emotions from her voice, but Ruby could always tell what she was thinking when she watched her eyes. She could sense the pain behind her anger. Ruby had been less than kind after she found out why Regina had been brought in. Not as an informant but arrested for soliciting one of the officers under cover while in The House of Brick. She had to lie, say that Regina had been looking for information for her, which wasn’t a lie, but it hadn’t been Ruby’s idea and she had to take the fall for nearly blowing the mission in order to keep her CI out of jail. For all the thanks she had received she should have let Regina spend the night. 

“I risked everything on good faith in you.” 

“And then proceeded to rip me apart in the interrogation room, which wasn’t nearly as entertaining as I hoped it would be. I must be the bad girl everyone paints me as.” Her lascivious smile was half-hearted, and never reached her eyes. Not that anyone would notice in the pitch black. 

Ruby waited for Regina to say something inappropriate, the way she normally did. Things that made Ruby’s things lower than her stomach tighten and her cheeks flush. The teasing that had more than once gotten out of hand against her cruiser, causing her to lose all common sense. Part of her was glad for the darkness because she didn’t have to see the displeasure on the other woman’s face. The look of betrayal Regina had given her was burned into her mind. 

“I never imagined that was the way you really felt about me,” Regina fell silent. 

They stayed like that, sitting on opposite sides of the elevator in silence. Neither one had wanted to break the silence. Ruby was angry at Regina for risking her life. Regina was angry with Ruby for the way she had dismissed her, and accused her of things beneath her. She may not have been the most pure person in Ruby’s life, but there had been no reason for Ruby to lay into her like that for doing what she was good at. If she hadn’t chosen one of the under cover cops as her mark, a new transfer at that, she wondered if Ruby would have been half as angry.  

There was something in Ruby’s anger that was protective, but Regina was not one to be coddled or saved, from anyone or anything. She clenched her jaw, resolute in her anger, and her decision to cut ties with the agent. 

Regina shivered, the temperature had been slowly dropping and they must have sat in silence for longer than she had realized.  

“Take the jacket,” Ruby said as she picked up the garment from the elevator floor. 

“I’m fine,” Regina maintained. Really, should wouldn’t mind taking the jacket back. She was cold, and it was warm, and smelled like Ruby. But once she got out of this forsaken elevator she couldn’t have anything around her that reminded her of Ruby. An ache started in her gut and worked it’s way up to her heart. If Ruby truly thought so little of her, then they couldn’t continue. 

“You’re cold, and I’m sorry.”  

The apology hung in the air. Neither breathed for a moment, waiting for the other to make a move, to say something. The lack of light took away any of the flirtatious cues the two usually took from one another. It robbed them of their main form of communication. When they could look each other in the eye they knew where they stood. In the dark, they were lost. 

“As dark as it is in here I can’t see where the damned thing is. And I don’t have your sense of smell, so bring it over here, pup.” Ruby imagined a smile curling on Regina’s lips, and hoped that maybe her apology had been accepted, or at least acknowledged. 

There was a chance no one knew that either of them were trapped. For all Agent Wallas knew, Ruby had left after Regina. No one but Ruby kept tabs on Regina and her girls anymore. They were hers to protect. At least an hour had past since they had been trapped and the elevator had always been either too cold or too hot depending upon the weather outside. With the blizzard descending on the city they were quickly reaching temperatures where they would have been able to see their breath… if they could see anything. 

Regina’s fingers brushed Ruby’s as she passed the jacket over. “God, you’re freezing Regina.” Ruby quickly moved to sit next to the other woman, and had her halfway into her lap before she remembered they were fighting. She froze, unsure if she should try to warm the other woman up or let her put on the jacket and retreat to the other side of the elevator. 

Her nostrils flared as she breathed in Regina’s heady perfume and the underlying scent that was so undeniably Regina. It made Ruby’s head spin. She was angry with Regina, but not. She was angry that Regina had been in danger. The other woman hadn’t moved from her position, half in, half out of Ruby’s lap. Ruby could feel her pulse thudding through her veins. 

“Something could have happened to you, Queenie, and I–“ Ruby trailed off, letting her hand run up Regina’s arm as she reached around to place the jacket on the other woman’s shoulders. She felt Regina relax as she slid closer to Ruby.  

“So you were worried about me?” Regina said. Ruby could almost feel her smiling against her shoulder. Ruby took the invitation to try to warm Regina, rubbing her hands along her arms before pulling her in as close as possible. 

“Yes,” she mumbled into Regina’s hair. There was no use denying it. They were stuck in an elevator, who knows how long away from being rescued. Being in an argument because she had been worried about the Regina’s safety seemed a moot point. Being frozen and angry was far worse than warm and only mildly annoyed. Or really, just questioning the other’s sanity. 

“You really are thickheaded,“ Regina shivered, but whether it was from the cold or Ruby running her fingers lazily up her spine, the taller woman didn’t know.  

She turned her head to respond, and felt Regina’s breath on her face. Somehow in cuddling together for warmth they had come face to face without realizing it. Ruby wished she could see the woman in front of her and the look in her eyes. All she could think of was kissing the other woman senseless and the tryst that shouldn’t have happened up against her cruiser. It had kept her up at night while simultaneously going for almost a year now. Their flirting, Ruby running off and trying to keep things professional, but something about Regina always pulled her back in. 

“I’m still pissed at you.” Regina said as she found Ruby’s mouth with her own. At first it was tentative, the dark leaving them to their other senses, but as soon as their lips met, the kiss became intense, crushing any distance they had between them. It was lips and teeth and tongues and hungry. Her hand slid under Ruby’s shirt, taking a moment to appreciate the muscles she found there before running across the scar on her side and slipping her hand underneath Ruby’s bra. She gasped at the cold, but pushed forward into Regina’s ministrations.  

Regina flicked her thumb against Ruby’s nipple and gave it a twist. Ruby let out a low moan and Regina kissed her with a bruising force, her tongue frantically exploring the other woman’s mouth. She pulled away, “Don’t think I’ve forgiven you yet.” 

“I can’t believe you went in there.” Her hands slid over Regina’s body, trying to warm every inch of cold. She mostly succeeded in setting herself on fire. She kissed down Regina’s neck, licking her pulse point and forgetting every reason why she shouldn’t be making out with her CI in a broken elevator during a blizzard. They had every reason to not be where they were right now. 

“That wasn’t very kind what you said,” Regina’s other hand snaked around Ruby’s middle and under her shirt, pressing against the small of her back.  

“My god that’s cold.” Ruby yelped. Regina let out a noise that was something akin to a giggle. Ruby shook her head and grabbed the offending hand, rubbing it between her own, which were still plenty warm. They sat there like that for a while, Regina straddling Ruby in the dark, their faces inches apart, as they tried to keep warm. 

Regina leaned her forehead against Ruby’s. “I didn’t think things would go south last night,” 

Ruby let her hands fall to Regina’s waist, finding that her skirt had rode up, exposing more skin that the short skirt usually did. She bit her lip, her fingers tracing figure eights on the other woman’s thighs. Regina ground her hips against Ruby’s. “We can’t do this, you know. But I want this.” I want us, she added in her head. 

“Screw can and can’t. I think we’re past that now.” 

Ruby tilted her head and sought out Regina’s mouth with her own. Her hands slid up Regina’s thighs, fingers teasing the edge of lace panties she found. In the back of her mind Ruby hoped no one found them for a long while. She could feel the heat building between them. As ways to keep warm went, well frankly, right now she couldn’t think of any ways that would be nearly as effective. Regina’s hands, warm now, found their way back under Ruby’s shirt, fingers playing across muscles, leaving marks with her nails. 

Ruby laid them down across the floor, careful to make sure Regina was on top of the jacket and not the cold metal floor. “You are a lady, a proper one. I really am sorry I said you weren’t, mostly, I’m an ass.” 

Regina reached down and gave Ruby’s ass a squeeze, “Well, you have a fantastic ass, there’s a bit off a difference.” 

Ruby flushed red, thankful for the darkness for the first time. 


End file.
